A New Life
by Lucathia Rykatu
Summary: Seta Soujiro's decision to take a 10 year long journey brings him north to Hokkaido. There, he meets many new peopleex:Uki, Outa... and a few familiar ones.ex: Cho, Saitoh... Chaotic indeed.
1. When People Meet

A New Life

by Lucathia

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin and am making no profit from writing this.

* * *

**prologue: when people meet**

* * *

The sun was bright. The birds were chirping. The blue sky was cloudless. Overall, it was a beautiful day. A man could be seen walking down the empty streets with a wide smile plastered on his face.

The man had long, brown hair tied in a little ponytail. His eyes were a glistening blue, unclouded by any worries. His attire also consisted of a nice, pretty blue. While he walked, he was whistling. He was whistling because he was happy that not many people in this area knew that his name was Seta Soujiro.

He walked slowly, not knowing where to go. When he sat down in the shade, he absently fingered some of his loose strands and his smile got even wider. _I think I need a hair cut._ He untied his hair and let it flow down his neck gracefully. _I seriously need a new hair cut. _Sighing, the man tied his hair up again and got up. _Well, at least that gives me something to do...wandering can get so boring these days. I don't know how Himura-san was able wander for ten years...I don't know how Himura-san can stand having long hair! _Soujiro kept smiling while he walked down the street.

He stopped by the barber shop, but it was still closed. Soujiro looked at the hanging sign on the door and smiled. _Not open until noon. Might as well take a rest. _He walked away from the barber shop, trying to think of something to do. _I'm pretty hungry. I wonder if any of the restaurants are open? _He lowered his bag and scrounged through it, looking for something to eat. No luck at all. He sighed with a smile on his face. _I guess I really have to go to a restaurant or the marketplace. _

After buying some bread with the leftover money he had, he filled his stomach and headed back to the barber shop. It was past noon and the shop was open now. Soujiro smiled and looked through his bundle for some money. Coming up with nothing, he sighed, but still he maintained his wide smile. _I guess I'll have to cut my hair with a knife or something. Now, this is a time I wish I still had my sword. _Shrugging, he entered the barber shop anyway, even though he obviously didn't know how to pay.

As he entered the shop, he was met with bustling activity. People scurried from one place to another, trying to find their right equipment. Soujiro smiled with a sweat drop. _I don't think I can put faith into people who lose their stuff. What if they cut my head? _Shaking his head, Soujiro decided to make himself noticeable. He walked up to the crammed counter and cleared his throat.

Immediately, the elderly woman looked up and started apologizing. "I'm sorry! I was too busy to notice..." She let her sentence drop as she stood up to look over Soujiro carefully. She frowned and said quietly, "Are you here for a hair cut?"

Soujiro nodded and smiled.

The woman's long, curly hair bounced as she shook her head. "Well, sorry ma'am, I don't want you to get all upset when you say I cut your hair too short. You know, girls look nice with long hair. You don't need a haircut."

Soujiro sweat dropped a second time that day, but still maintained his smile. He declared with his soft voice, "Well, ma'am, I can't say why YOU would call me ma'am. I'm a SIR." With that, he leaned forward to stare her down.

The woman's eyes widened while she raised her eyebrows. She chuckled. "I'm very sorry! Sorry for the mistake. You know your voice doesn't really help convince me that you're a guy."

Soujiro sweat dropped again and shrugged with a smile. "Think as much as you want. I just want a haircut."

The woman shook her head again.

Full of patience, Soujiro interrogated her again. "Why not?"

The woman gestured with her smooth hands towards the sign on the door. It read, "No money, no haircut." The woman stared Soujiro down with her livid red eyes and asked, "You think you have enough money to pay?"

Soujiro looked at himself and knew he didn't have any money to pay. He shrugged with a smile.

The woman sighed. "I knew you were one of those wanderers with no money with them. Sorry I don't cut people's hair for free. You know how long it takes to perfect a haircut."

Soujiro remained quiet and pondered on what she meant by "one of those wanderers."

The woman's eye gleamed and she spoke up again. She beckoned Soujiro to walk closer to her. "Here, let me take a look at your hair." Soujiro walked up to her, not knowing what she wanted from him. If he felt perplexed, he surely didn't show it with his unwavering smile.

"Hm...you have very fine quality hair here. So nice and soft, like silk." The woman murmured numerous comments about his hair as she ran her fingers through it. "Why don't we strike a deal?"

"A deal?" asked Soujiro, still smiling.

"Yes, a deal." She paused, letting the words sink in. "You go back and let your hair grow a bit longer and then come back. Then I'll cut it for you, for free."

Soujiro smiled. "But I want a haircut right now...And why do you want me to let my hair grow longer?"

The woman frowned and muttered. "I knew it wouldn't work. Just like last time that crazy red-haired guy with a scar on his left cheek just left without coming back...Darn...there goes more fine hair...With all this hair I can make such a fine wig!"

"Ara?" inquired Soujiro.

The woman glanced up quickly and sighed. "Might as well tell you since you won't do what I say." She paused again to see Soujiro's reaction. He just stood there with a smile. She shrugged. "About ten years ago, this red-haired man with a scar on his left cheek," she paused and drew a cross across her own cheek with her fingertips, "came and wanted a haircut. You know, his hair had such fine quality, I really wanted to make a wig at of it! And the beautiful color too!" She placed her hands on both sides of her cheek and sighed. Her fiery eyes glittered at the thought. Soujiro sweat dropped again. "I wanted to make a wig out of his hair even though I know not a lot of people would wear a red wig. But, so what? It's such beautiful hair." Then her eyes lit up dangerously. She swung around abruptly and glared at Soujiro. She pointed a menacing finger at him. "But, he just had to answer the same way you did! I just wanted him to go back and let his hair grow a bit longer so I can cut it at the right length. But NOOOOO! He said he wanted a hair cut right now because he was a wanderer and couldn't stay in one place for too long." She gasped for breath after her long speech and glared Soujiro down. "So, lad, what's your reason for wanting a haircut RIGHT NOW?" Her baggy sleeves rustled as she pointed her finger at him again.

"Maa, maa!" Soujiro smiled and placed both of his hands up. "Calm down..." Soujiro peered down at a discarded name card. "Calm down, Noryoku-san!"

She continued to glare. "So, lad, what is your reason of wanting a haircut right now?"

"Because I'm a wanderer and I can't stay in one place for too long."

Noryoku burst. "Don't you go giving me those stupid, freaking reasons!" She shook her hand violently and slammed the table.

Everyone in the room stopped their activity and stared at her.

Soujiro continued smiling.

Noryoku looked around and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, everyone! It's no big deal! Go back to your work." She paused. "Wait a minute. I'm the boss. Why should I apologize?" So she turned around and yelled, "GO BACK TO YOUR WORK!" Everyone gaped and nodded quickly. Soujiro smiled and slipped out of the room. When Noryoku finally turned back, she found that he had already left. "Oh, darn. There goes such fine hair!"

* * *

Soujiro sighed as he twirled his ponytail. _I guess I don't have good luck. Just look at all that commotion I got into. I wonder what made that woman so...eruptive? _Soujiro giggled. "Saa, Himura-san is that red-haired guy with a scar. It's probably his fault that she's so mad." Soujiro smiled and walked down the road. _I guess I'll just have to cut my hair when I have time. _He glanced around with his eyebrows raised. _I never knew I was this close to Hokkaido. _Wooden signs were scattered all over the place, indicating he was nearing the Seikan tunnel that led to Hokkaido. _Hm...might as well pay a visit to Hokkaido. Haven't ever visited that place in my five years worth of wandering. Hm...I haven't noticed that I'm half way through my journey already...oh well. _And so, with that thought in mind, Soujiro walked to the tunnel and headed inside.

* * *

**to be continued**

* * *

(**March 29th 2007:** Since ffnet removed all dividers, I'm in the process of adding all of them back in with all of my old fics. This fic was started back in 2001. Wow. Well, I'll have to say, I have no intention of continuing this fic at the moment, and if I ever do, I'll start afresh. I suppose that means I should delete this fic? I hate deleting fics though. If anyone cares enough about this fic, let me know what you think.)


	2. When a Boy Meets a Girl

A New Life

by Lucathia

* * *

**chapter 1: when a boy meets a girl**

* * *

"A-choo!" Soujiro sneezed. _Oh no...these yellow flowers...I didn't know I was allergic to these kind of flowers! _Soujiro smiled and walked down a bustling street in Hokkaido with a bunch of yellow daisies in his hand. He had helped an old lady carry her crops back from her fields into her little cottage. And this was what he was awarded with. He laughed. _My, I get some flowers I'm allergic to for payment...and a few cents worth of food..._He smiled and continued down the road, with people looking strangely at this smiley boy.

_Aww..._Soujiro tilted his head and looked at the sky. _I like Hokkaido. Lot's of fresh air. Beautiful skies. So calm..._Just when Soujiro thought these thoughts, a piercing scream ran through the air.

"HEEEEEEEEEELP!" a voice yelled.

Soujiro's ears twitched as he ran towards the voice. _There she is!_ Sohjiro saw a girl with shoulder length brown hair that was a bit spiky at the ends. A guy was trying to choke her. Soujiro felt no emotions when he saw this, but he hated how her scream disturbed the peace. Soujiro's eyes gleamed as he stood there.

"Help!" the girl screamed again. She struggled violently against the big guy.

"Oh no you don't, you scum!" Yelled the big guy. "I won't let you off your debts this easily!"

The girl kept struggling and yelling for help. She tried to bite the man, but couldn't. It was then that she saw Soujiro.

"Hey, help me here! Don't you see I'm in trouble?" She yelled to Soujiro. Sighing, Soujiro shrugged and vanished out of view. "Hey, where'd he..." not even able to finish her sentence, she found herself in soft arms. She looked up into Soujiro's blue eyes and drowned in them. _I wonder if he thinks I'm pretty?_ The girl blushed and struggled against Soujiro's embrace. "Haven't you held me long enough? Let me go already." Soujiro let her go, dropping her roughly onto the ground. "Hey, what'd you do that for?" She whimpered.

Soujiro smiled and held out a hand. "Suminasen, I thought you wanted me to let you go."

The girl looked at him with exasperation. "Yeah, but not throw me onto the ground! What a way to treat a beautiful lady!"

Soujiro sweat dropped. Beautiful lady, huh? More like some over energetic girl. "Suminasen." Soujiro kept smiling. He looked at the slightly crushed daisies in his hand. "Please accept my apology." He extended out his hands with the yellow flowers.

The girl's eyes shone at the sight of flowers. _Oh! He must love me so. I'm just too pretty for my own good! _She blushed and took the flowers from him. "I accept your apology!" She giggled behind the flowers.

Soujiro smiled. Finally got rid of those flowers he was allergic to. Finally! No more allergies! He turned around, ready to leave the girl alone in the streets.

"Wait! Won't you even tell me your name?" The girl's pleading eyes locked onto his blank ones.

Soujiro continued smiling and replied in a polite tone of voice. "My name is Seta Soujiro."

The girl managed to smile through all the flowers. "Higashidani Uki." And again Soujiro turned around to leave. "Wait!" And the girl yelled for him again.

He turned around. "What is it?" Uki fumbled with her little bow. "Ano...my little brother is missing...I was just wondering...if you'll help me find him? Pretty please?" She looked imploringly at Soujiro.

He smiled again. "Sure." And of course he didn't really have anything else he wanted to do. Besides...he was trying to perform good deeds to make up for all the torture he caused other people all those years ago.

There was a slight pause and no one said a word. Finally, Uki spoke up. "Don't just stand there! Start looking already!" She started walking towards the end of the road and beckoned Soujiro to go with her. Soujiro sweatdropped.

"Higashidani-san, do you have any idea where your brother is?" Soujiro gave a worried smile, not knowing how long this good deed would take.

Uki shook her head. "I have no idea. Oh! Outa-chan...how you must be scared! It's all my fault! My fault that I was so stupid to have dropped our money and got us stalked by those scarey people! Outa! OUTA-CHAN! Where are you? I miss you so!" She wailed and rubbed her eyes. "My little Outa!" She crumbled and managed to stumble into Soujiro's arms. "Outa!" The daisies waved dangerously in front of Soujiro.

"Achoo!" Soujiro sneezed again. _My...my allergy again. _Then he looked at the crazy girl in his arms and sighed. _I don't think I should have agreed to help her look for her brother. This is getting too crazy. _Soujiro roughly pushed her out of his arms. "Daijoubu, Higashidani-san?" Even though his voice held no contempt, his actions did.

Uki sniffed. "I'm fine. Sorry for bothering you with my crying." She shuffled her feet. _I wonder how he thinks of girls who cry so much? He probably thinks I'm cute when I do that. _"I...I'm so worried about Outa-chan. Let's start searching right now, okay?"

Soujiro smiled. "Sure. Can you give me a description of him?"

Uki nodded and smiled. "Of course! Let me tell you. Hm...how should I start? Well, his height...he doesn't yet reach your shoulder, but then that's okay, he still has a lot of growing to do. And his eyes are dark like midnight and his hair is spiky and brown like brown icicles and his hands are soft as cotton and..."

Soujiro smiled and put up his hands, stopping Uki in the middle of her bound-to-be-long speech. "I think that's enough for now."

Uki blinked and looked towards Soujiro. _I guess he's not interested in guys._ "Where do you think we should start searching?" _His smile is too darn cute for his own good._ She gazed at Soujiro's smiling face and pursed her lips.

"What is it, Higashidani-san?" Soujiro just maintained his cool mask of indifference with a wide smile. _This girl gets on my nerves!_

"Higashidani-san, Higashidani-san..." Uki muttered under her breath, turning her face away from Soujiro. _I hate that smile of his, but I like it so much too! I really wonder how he thinks of me. I hate it when people pretend to be polite! _

"Higashidani-san?" Soujiro bent down and turned his face slightly to look at Uki's downcasted gaze. He came to an extremely close proximity to Uki's face when suddenly the color of the girl's face deepened to a rosy pink and she quickly stepped backwards.

"Gawd! You scared the heck out of me!" Uki nearly screamed into Soujiro's ear. _My heart is beating so fast...it feels like it's going to explode into a million pieces. I guess he really must of scared the daylights out of me. _"Don't ever do that to me again!"

"Do what?" Soujiro never let go of his unwavering smile as he innocently neared to girl's face and looked at her. _I have no idea why I'm wasting my time teasing this girl. I mean...I'm on this journey to find an answer to life. I don't think that girl would be any part of it._

"J-just don't do that!" Uki backed away hastily and bumped into some barrels, almost tripping over. Her previous confident thoughts slipped away from her mind as she looked around nervously. _I've never been this close to a guy around my age before...at least I THINK he's around my age. He certainly looks like it. _

Thinking of a way to get out of her embarrassment, she just blurted out what she meant to say earlier. "I don't want you to call me Higashidani-san! Just call me Uki." Her face turned beet red when she said this. _I'm certainly being too familiar with him._ Feeling extremely nervous, she sped up her speech. "Ano...that'sallIguess! ThanksforyourhelpIthinkI'llfindOutabymyself! Bye!" With that, she turned towards the right and ran away--extremely fast for a person in a kimono.

Soujiro blinked and turned slowly towards the direction in which the girl left. _She's a weird one._ He shrugged and walked away. _She looks like she can run as fast as I can, if that's her regular speed._

* * *

Just after she rounded the corner, she stopped running and stopped to regain her breath. "W-Why did I run away?" She slowly leaned against the wall, trying hard not to wrinkle her kimono. "Is it because of embarrassment?" She lifted her hands and cupped her cheeks. "I bet my face is flaming red right now."

She dusted herself off and ran a hand through her messy hair. "What should I do now?" After standing there, doing nothing for what seemed like eternity, she widened her eyes as a troubling thought passed through her mind.

"OH MY GOD! WHERE'S OUTA?"

* * *

**to be continued**

* * *

A/N: Higashidani Uki is Sanosuke's little sister. I always see Soujiro paired with Misao, so I thought I'd introduce someone not a lot of people wrote about. Romance won't play a big part in this fic though.


End file.
